Authorities report that a shooting took place in Tampa, Florida, on Sunday morning, after a fight broke out between two groups during Halloween celebrations. Early that morning, the street was jam-packed with hundreds of people.
While he was at the scene, Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw informed reporters that the shooting occurred just before 3 a.m. in the 1600 Block of East 7th Avenue.
Bercaw stated that the incident was “a disturbance or a fight between groups.” “We had innocent people involved in the fight between these two groups that were in our way.”
A video posted online shows people in Halloween costumes drinking and talking on the street when shots ring out, triggering a stampede. Some people topple over metal tables and take cover behind them. Video from the aftermath shows police officers treating several people lying wounded on the ground.
“They just said they had one person in custody, and I hope he’s the person,” Emmitt Wilson stated. Wilson said his 14-year-old son Elijah Wilson was killed in the shooting.
Wilson, who lives in Tampa, told reporters on the scene, “his good kid” was “just at the wrong place and the wrong time.”
Wilson said, “I have been telling him to stop spending a lot of time with certain people for a long time but he will not listen. ”
Bercaw stated that a male shooter turned himself in to the police. Bercaw said that authorities believed that there was a second gunman involved.
It is not possible to disclose immediately the condition of 18 injured hospitalized patients.
Bercaw stated that even though some officers were present, no injuries occurred.